Saturday, May 31, 2014

A Sudanese woman facing down a death sentence for marrying a Christian will be freed, it has been reported.

Meriam Ibrahim, who gave birth in prison this week, was sentenced to death for abandoning Islam, but is now set to be released in a matter of days.

The news comes after huge international pressure was piled on the Sudanese authorities, with David Cameron, Hillary Clinton and the Archbishop of Canterbury all calling for the sentence to be dropped.

Abdullahi Alazreg, an under-secretary at the foreign ministry, announced the decision to the BBC, saying that Sudan guaranteed religious freedom and was committed to protecting the woman.

Mrs Ibrahim, 27, was thrown in jail in September and earlier this month was sentenced to death for apostasy and adultery for marrying Daniel Wani, a Christian Sudanese man with U.S. citizenship who lives in Manchester, New Hampshire.

She was also sentenced to 100 lashes as the Sudanese court operating under strict Shariah law refused to recognize her 2011 marriage because her father was a Muslim.

The judge ruled that even though Meriam’s father left her family when she was six and she was raised as a Christian, she should still worship Islam.

Her Christian marriage was annulled and she was sentenced to 100 lashes for adultery and death by hanging for renouncing Islam.

Friday, May 30, 2014

The website "Pray More Novenas" is being joined by thousands of Catholics from around the world in praying the Novena To The Holy Spirit for Pentecost.

We are also joining them, and invite you to join us as well, You may click the link below to be taken to "Pray More Novenas", where you will find the prayers for the novena, as well as a place at the bottom of their page to add your own prayer intentions.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

That's
what we call it down south. One can not be a southerner and not love
their sweet tea. It's against the law!

OK....maybe
it's not against the law....or maybe you'd just be reported to the
Daughter's of the Confederacy, and there would be a long line of
little old ladies with blue hair waiting for their turn to smack you
one with their purse for having the audacity to dislike sweet tea.

And
if you want to have some really refreshing sweet tea (iced tea for
all you northerners and other uneducated people), then you have got
to try the Iced
Tea Blend from Mystic Monk Coffee. It is very good.

You
can also find their great
coffees as usual (don't forget about the Monk Shots),
including their Bolivian Fair Trade Organic!

With
the weather getting warmer and more humid though, nothing hits the
spot like a tall glass of sweet tea, especially if it is from Mystic
Monk Coffee, where your purchases helps support the Carmelite
Monks of Wyoming.

Friday, May 23, 2014

A few thousand euros are enough to buy Syrian women, including minors, who have fled their war-torn country and are living in refugee camps, Arab human rights groups have denounced.

The groups are sounding the alarm on the plight of women who are on sale as "Syrians up for marriage" on Facebook.

This phenomenon is not new. Last year, reports alleged that Syrian women living in refugee camps in Jordan, Turkey and Iraq had been sold to men from Arab countries, in particular from the Gulf area. Rights groups also denounced cases of violence and sexual harassment in which victims were as young as 12 and 13 years of age.

The Facebook page publicizing Syrian refugees who could be bought as wives was closed on Thursday after hundreds of activists and human rights' lawyers protested. But it had thousands of followers between May 17-21 including prospective clients interested in the women who were portrayed with little on. Some posts showed the picture of women "looking for a husband" with a brief profile on their chastity and their ability in domestic work.

But to get a better insight into the "goods" on sale, men had to send an email to start negotiations. According to Arab NGO Kafa, which has repeatedly denounced the phenomenon, clients mostly hail from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, as well as Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Yemen and Bahrain.

Among the announcements was one publicizing "refugee girls of all ages and religious confessions" to satisfy all applications from Sunnis, Shiites and Christians in a climate of growing religious polarization.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

International outrage is mounting over the death sentence a Sudanese judge ordered for the pregnant wife of an American citizen — all because she refuses to renounce her Christian faith.

Meriam Ibrahim, 26, was sentenced Thursday after being convicted of apostasy. The court in Khartoum ruled that Ibrahim must give birth and nurse her baby before being executed, but must receive 100 lashes immediately after having her baby for adultery — for having relations with her Christian husband. Ibrahim, a physician and the daughter of a Christian mother and a Muslim father who abandoned the family as a child, could have spared herself death by hanging simply by renouncing her faith.

"We gave you three days to recant but you insist on not returning to Islam," Judge Abbas Khalifa told Ibrahim, according to AFP. "I sentence you to be hanged to death."

But Ibrahim held firm to her beliefs.

“I was never a Muslim,” she answered. “I was raised a Christian from the start.”

Ibrahim was raised in the Christian faith by her mother, an Orthodox Christian from Ethiopia. She is married to Daniel Wani, a Christian from southern Sudan who has U.S. citizenship, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A student group at the University of Notre Dame advocating traditional marriage has been denied official recognition as a campus club at the iconic Catholic institution, although members vow to appeal the decision.

The group, Students for Child-Oriented Policy (SCOP), was rejected in an April 30 letter from the university’s Student Activities Office to Tiernan Kane, the club’s proposed president. The decision was based on a recommendation by the university’s Club Coordination Council, a division of student government, that found the club’s mission “closely mirrored” that of other undergraduate student clubs at the 12,000-student university.

“In evaluating a proposal, approval is based on several things,” read the letter to Kane. “We consider the general purpose of a club, uniqueness to campus, proposed activities, a clear constitution, a strong understanding of budget planning, projected membership, opportunity for membership, among other things.”

Due to the perceived duplicative mission of the group, SCOP’s proposal was rejected, according to the letter, which did not reference other university-recognized groups.

“As such, the Club Coordination Council felt there was not a need for another similar-type club,” the letter continued. “You are encouraged to contact the Club Coordination Council’s Social Service Division to learn about collaborating with the existing clubs working toward your mutual goals.”

SCOP, which was founded in January, is comprised of Notre Dame undergraduate and graduate students focused on the debate about marriage in Indiana, where the school is based, according to its Facebook profile, which had 69 members as of Tuesday.

The group seeks to unite a network of students across The Hoosier State in favor of “child-oriented policies,” according to its organizers.

“We reject the view that the young have agreed to redefine marriage,” the group’s Facebook page continues. “Rather, we think that they have not explored the meaning and importance of marriage.”

Messages seeking comment from Kane and other SCOP students were not returned early Tuesday.

Kane told The Cardinal Newman Society he believes Notre Dame should take the lead on marriage, much like it did in publicly voicing its support for the Dream Act and other controversial topics.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

A Sudanese court has found a 27-year-old woman guilty of apostasy and has been given until May 15 to renounce her Christian faith.

Ahmed Bilal Osman, Sudan’s minister of culture and information, told Agence France-Presse that “it's not only Sudan. In Saudi Arabia, in all the Muslim countries, it is not allowed at all for a Muslim to change his religion.”

Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, the daughter of a Muslim father and Christian mother, maintains that she was raised a Christian.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

For
many years now, there has been a point of contention among Catholics
as to whether Holy Communion should be received on the tongue, or in
the hand.

There
have been many disagreements, with some insisting communion should
only be received on the tongue. They feel it is both irreverent and
disrespectful to Our Lord for our hands to touch His body.

Others
have said that this is nonsense and that these people are just hold overs
from the "old days". They say that as long as we make a
"throne" with our hands to receive the Body of the Lord, we
are showing proper respect.

Then
the "tongue only" folks point out that it would be too easy
for someone to sneak off with the host for it to be used in some
profane ritual.

I
have to say, that I totally and completely agree with those who say
that communion should only be received on the tongue. I think that the
reception of Holy Communion in the hand should not just be
discouraged, but banned outright in all Catholic Dioceses.

After
seeing how upset we all became with a Harvard University Club
sponsoring a Satanic Black Mass, and the planned use of a host in
that sacrilegious act , it became apparent to me, that only
allowing reception on the tongueis the only way that
should be allowed for any Catholic to receive the Body of Our Lord.

[Granted,
in the case of the Harvard University Club, there were several
conflicting statements as to whether or not the Satanists were
actually in possession of a consecrated host. First they said they
had a consecrated host....then they had a host, but it was not
consecrated...then they didn't have a host at all, but planned to use
bread. I think it best to assume that they did in fact have a
consecrated host, and even knowing it was consecrated, they (the
Satanists) would proclaim it as not being consecrated anyway, since
they deny that transubstantiation takes place, and
therefore deny the Body of Christ.]

If
a priest, or EMHC (Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion) places a
consecrated host in the hand of any communicant, it is
far too easy for that communicant to pretend to have
consumed the host, and then transport it elsewhere for their
own nefarious purposes. We have all read about or heard of
priests stopping communicants from leaving a parish with a host that
had been placed in a pocket or purse instead of being consummed.

In
any case, the fact remains that it would be much more difficult for
anyone to remove a host from their mouth, when that host had been
placed on the tongue by the priest or EMHC. It seems to me, that the
action of the communicants owns saliva upon the host, would render it
unsuitable for transporting, even if that was what the recipient had
in mind.

Let
me say here, by my own decision, beginning with my own first
communion, I have always received on the tongue and not in the hand.
No one told me to receive that way. No one forced me to receive that
way. It was my decision, and mine only. I felt, and still do feel, it
is the only proper way to receive the Body of Our Lord.

I
do hope, that after this blatant disregard for the Catholic faith by
some students at Harvard University, that bishops in the United
States, and around the world, will put an end to receiving Holy
Communion in the hand.

Unauthorized
use and/or duplication of this material without express and written
permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly
prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and
clear credit is given to Gary Stephen Smith and Faith of the Fathers
with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Monday, May 05, 2014

At a meeting with representatives of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith rebuked the group for giving a top award to a dissident theologian, and pointedly reminded the American women religious that the LCWR is “a canonical entity dependent on the Holy See,” and must comply with Vatican-mandated plans for reform.

Cardinal Gerhard Müller said that the decision by the LCWR to confer its Outstanding Leadership Award on Sister Elizabeth Johnson, whose writings have drawn a caution from the US bishops’ committee on doctrine, can be “seen as a rather open provocation” in light of the Vatican’s call for reform of the American group.

Under the terms of the reform ordered by the Vatican in 2012, Cardinal Müller reminded the LCWR, the speakers at LCWR meetings should be cleared by the Vatican’s delegate supervising the reform process, Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle. But Archbishop Sartain was informed about the award for Sister Johnson “only after the decision had been made,” the cardinal observed, in an apparent violation of the Vatican’s directives.

An Islamic extremist leader has threatened to sell the 276 teenage girls his terror group abducted from a school in northeast Nigeria three weeks ago.

In a videotape screened by the Associated Press Monday, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility for the April 15 kidnappings for the first time. He also threatened to attack more schools and take additional girls.

"I abducted your girls," said the leader of Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sinful."

He described the girls as "slaves" and said "By Allah, I will sell them in the marketplace." The hour-long video starts with fighters lofting automatic rifles and shooting in the air as they chant "Allahu akbar!" or "God is great."

Friday, May 02, 2014

Just
in case you forgot (you didn't forget, did you?), Mother's Day falls
on Sunday, May 11.

That's
right. It's the time of year we all try to thank mom for giving us
life....for sitting up with us when we were sick....bandaging those
skinned knees....for being our chauffeur....for being our
confidant....for straightening us out when we got out of line.

So,
to help you show mom how much you appreciate her, you can give her
something from Mystic Monk Coffee.

For
instance, there is the Aurora
Tea Gift Set. It come with Aurora Blend White Tea, Mystic
Monk Blend Tea, and a stylish tea mug, all packed in a neat little
pink basket (which mom can use for other things later).

If
your mom loves flavored coffees, then the Amaretto
flavored coffee may be just the ticket. The good monks have
this to say about the Amaretto flavor:

“Smooth
and flavorful, our Amaretto flavor is full of almond nuttiness, and
is especially good when made with cream and sugar.”

Amaretto
is available in regular ground, whole bean regular, and in ground
decaf.

If
you can't decide what your mom would like from Mystic Monk Coffee,
then give her something she will love. Give her a gift card from
Mystic Monk Coffee. They are available in $15,
$25,
$50,
$75,
and $100.
Then you can be sure that your mom gets exactly what
she wants!

We
can't ever pay our mom's back really. There is not enough time for us
to really show her what she means. We need to try and show mom what
she means to us while she's here. My mom is gone, but never a day
passes without my thinking of her and missing her. I know she is in a
far better place than we are, but I still wish she was here.

I
know my mom would have loved getting Mystic
Monk Coffee, because if ever there was a coffee fan, she was
one. And she would have really liked knowing, that the purchase of
Mystic Monk Coffee, helps to support the monastery of The
Carmelite Monks of Wyoming.

Thursday, May 01, 2014

In Malta, Bishop Charles Scicluna has voiced his opposition to a proposal to “melt” human corpses, as an alternative to burial or cremation.

“I don’t think that this is in line with the Church’s views on respecting the body,” said Bishop Scicluna, an auxiliary of the Malta diocese. He said that he would consult with others, noting that his opinion was not a formal ruling of the Church.

The proposal under discussion would use a chemical process to remove tissue from human bones....